By Miguel Ceniceros
The Baby Boom began at the end of world war 2. As G.I.s returned to the United States after the war in the Pacific and in Europe, many of them wanted things to return to normal. They wanted to live the most normal lives and leave the war behind them. Many of them went to university, and, with the help of the G.I. Bill, pursued higher education. In addition to this, the postwar economy allowed for the middle class to grow. Couples were hopeful of the future and they had many children. The boom of children was gigantic during this time. From the end of the end of the war in 1945 to 1964 the U.S. birth rate skyrocketed up to four million births per year. The baby boomers are significant because their generation was very large and because most of them were born to middle class families. The fact that they were a very large generation allowed them to feel powerful as a generation. Never had there been so many teenagers to interact with each other. In addition to this they were born to middle class families. Many baby boomers believed that the future was bright and it was up to them to take charge of it. They were raised to believe that they could do anything. Many baby boomers grew up to become hippies and social advocates and they led later civil rights movements and anti-war protests. When they reached college age, they protested against the curtailing of their freedoms of speech at places like the University of California Berkeley, where the Free Speech Movement took place.
Yates v. United States was a supreme court case that the first amendment, which protected freedom of speech protected everyone's freedom of speech, and this included radical and revolutionary speech, unless it was a "clear and present danger". This meant that communists could freely express their political views. The case was brought to the courts after a group of communists (part of the Communist Party of America) were charged with trying to overthrow the U.S. government. The courts decided to let them go after it decided that they were passively engaged in politics and that they were not actively involved in trying to overthrow the U.S. government. This case influenced the students that led the Free Speech Movement because it let them know that they were entitled to speak about political issues. The students had known that the Supreme court had allowed for the discussion of political issues, but the university felt that it had the power to keep them from doing so. This angered the students. Especially those who were worried of being drafted into the army to fight the war in Vietnam. Many of the students opposed the war greatly and they decided that they would stand up for their civil liberties. The fact that the university would not comply with the rights that the students assumed that they had made them want to oppose the "machine" and throw themselves into the gears to make it stop working. It was not working as it should.
The Freedom Summer was an event that took place in June of 1964 and it was an effort to register black voters in the state of Mississippi, who had had always been excluded by a variety of laws that required literacy tests for voter registration. In addition to voter registration, one of the goals of the Freedom Summer was to help poor blacks by establishing schools and community centers that were accessible to the white population. Many of the volunteers who helped register new voters were college students from the North. The freedom summer helped cause the Free Speech Movement because it was many of the same students that led both. Many of the protesters at Berkeley just returned from the South where they had spent their summer registering black voters and helping to integrate the southern society. The Freedom Summer, however, was not only effective in its efforts to register new, black voters, it also helped do away with the remnants of the Jim Crow system that for so long had isolated the blacks in the south. The area received lots of media coverage and when the students returned to school in the North, like Mario Savio, they would arrive triumphant and with the pride that they had made a difference. The students returned to the North confident that non-violence and collective efforts could work to make a change. These students apply the same tactics to the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley and at other universities throughout the nation.
The Free Speech Movement was a protest that took place at the University of California, Berkeley in the Fall of 1964. The protest began when students were denied the right to use campus space to discuss political issues. When Jack Weinberg, a former student, was arrested for not complying, students surrounded the police car of the officer that arrested him and sat down, not allowing for the car to leave campus. Students and faculty gave speeches about the injustice of the rule which they took as a attack on their freedom of speech. On e of the most famous speeches was one given by Mario Savio which described the way in which they must throw themselves onto the "machine" (government) if they wish to stop it from working. He was telling the students that they have to do anything they can to make change happen. The protest continued and students sat in the administration buildings. There was a mass arrest and when the university pressed charges against the organizers of the protest, a larger protest began. Eventually, the university allowed the students to discuss political issues on campus. The significance of this event lies in the fact that it was a demonstration by peaceful college students who believed that their liberties had been curtailed by the university administrators. These were the youth that had been born during the baby boom, and they believed they could change the world. It really gave the youth momentum about the power they brought to bear upon their leaders. This movement specifically let the youth know they could influence their government. It also led to much reform at universities throughout the nation. Many other universities, like the University of Wisconsin, Madison, led their own strikes against policies that curtailed their right to freedom of speech. Overall, movements like these allowed the youth to know that they had power and it led to the development of a counterculture that defied every aspect of the society people had come to know , like the hippies, and even the civil rights movement. The success of the movement led many of the people involved with the movement that they might also be successful in their efforts that opposed the war in Vietnam.
The Vietnam Day Committee (VDC) was a group laborers, students, and religious individuals created to oppose the Vietnam war. The VDC began at the University of California, Berkeley and used nonviolent methods to advocate for the end of the war in Vietnam. The movement was created by Jerry Rubin, Paul Montauk and its members to take part in civil disobedience to achieve its ends. Events that it carried out include the burning of an effigy of Lyndon Johnson, the president who had increased U.S military presence in Vietnam, and the burning of draft cards. This organization was largely an effect of the Free Speech Movement because that is what the students were talking about when they were forbidden to speak of politics at the University. After they saw that the FSM was successful they sought other ways to make their opinions of the war known. The main goal of the VDC was to bring an end to the war in Vietnam, which they saw as futile. They knew that the war was costing the lives of many Americans and they wanted those funds to go to solving the poverty found in cities around the United States. Many of the members of the VDC had taken part in the FSM and they were passionate about their cause.
The Students for a Democratic Society was a society mainly made up of college students who were led many antiwar and antipoverty campaigns. They advocated for reforms in the policies concerning gender, racial equality, and it represented one of the largest student power organizations in the country. Soon the SDS became very violent and included a violent faction called the Weathermen. This smaller group used violence to start disastrous urban riots instead of the peaceful civil rights demonstrations. The Days of Rage in Chicago, Ill. Were one such incident. The riots from the days of rage were motivated by the fact that 8 men had been arrested for created riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. In addition to riots like these, the weathermen SDS was known for its strong opposition the war in Vietnam and for its expressions of Black Power. After the Free Speech Movement occurred in Berkeley, similar movements occurred through the nation. Unlike the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley, not all protests were peaceful. The SDS was motivated by the influence of the students that led the FSM and they were inspired to do the same. From the FSM there came to be a counterculture that promoted protests in favor of advocating for social and political changes. The SDS was launched what it saw as a youthful revolution at Berkeley but it became increasingly violent in the future.
The American Counterculture during the 1960s consisted of many baby boomers who had adopted an alternative way of life. Hippies, as they were called, lived a rebellious lifestyle that embraced, communal living, drug use, and a unique dress code. They wore flowers, kept their hair long, and often embraced eastern religions. The hippies believed that they could make a change and they did lived their radical way of life in response to a society that they viewed as fake and too consumer-based. They were viewed negatively by older Americans because they were so radical. The hippies resulted from earlier movements, including the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley. The people who led FSM were young baby boomers who had decided that they needed to fix society. The FSMs victory allowed those students to start other movements which became increasingly radical. The FSM wanted to protest in a peaceful manner. In a similar way, hippies express their nonconformity with an increasingly consumer society through their lifestyle, which rejects all of those ideals. The hippie movement was essentially another protest, a very radical one.
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